Chapter 3 THIRD CHAPTER

December 6th, 2015

The excited chatter in the staff room of Great Minds Preparatory School was enough to cheer everyone up but today that didn't include Rosemary Douglas. Kind of ironical because she was well known to be the liveliest person among the bunch of teachers. She felt an elbow press into her side and turned to see her friend, Annabelle Jenkins, looking at her worriedly.

"What's wrong Rose, are you feeling sick?" she said to which Rosemary shook her head "no Annie I'm not, just a little under the weather today." " Well just think about the salary we're about to get in a few minutes time, that is guaranteed to brighten up your mood" Annabelle continued with a laugh to which Rosemary just smiled slightly and nodded.

Truth is, the salary she was about to receive was the main cause of her moodiness. It's a known fact that teachers don't get paid well but, teachers at the little preparatory school she had been teaching for the past two years of her life, get paid even less. It wouldn't even be dramatic to call the pay peanuts. She had been managing just fine regardless, between her salary and her mum's salary, the family was fed and clothed, but as of four months ago the small insurance company her mum had been working at as a receptionist had folded up rendering her mum and all the other workers jobless. Her out-of-work mum, thirteen years old sister and eleven years old brother were all depending on the 23 years old Rosemary's salary to eat and survive. The money was stretched thin enough and now that the school was closing for the long holiday, she couldn't help wondering how her family was going to survive.

With her mum finding it difficult to get another job, Rose thoughts had gotten quite fixed on the idea of getting a second job to make ends meet but now that the long holidays was staring her in the face, she knew she had to get one, FAST!!!.

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" Mum, I'm thinking of getting a job as a cook or cleaner on one of the richer farms in the area" Rose said to her mum who's face immediately became swarmed with guilt. " Rose I'm so sorry you have to work this hard" was the reply she got " it's just that there are no jobs forthcoming, no one wants to employ me because the only working experience I have is working as a receptionist for a company that got folded up. You are supposed to be resting this holiday, not thinking of how to cater to a family" she continued. Rosemary smiled slightly while her mum talked, she couldn't help noticing how good her mother looked despite having had a tough life. With her shoulder length chestnut brown hair and piercing green eyes, it was easy to understand why she had won the town town beauty pageant three times a row in her teenage years. Although the years hadn't been kind to her, with the death of her husband five years ago from a road accident to the burden of catering for 3 children thrust suddenly upon her. Regardless of all these happenings, she looked beautiful in her 50's and Rosemary thanked God she had been lucky enough to be blessed with her mum's green eyes but her bright red hair was courtesy of her dad although the two characteristics did go quite well together, she thought.

" It's okay mum. This is just going to be temporary until you get a job" she said to her mum " but for now, let's come up with a list of farms we think might need an house help" " Okay" her mum acquiesced, " let's start with the McGregor farms, they might need help" Getting a piece of paper and pen from her bag on the table, Rose wrote that down. Her mum listed a couple of farms including Mr George's ranch, the Smith's farm and what should have been her first option, Mister Mcjunkin's ranch who was one of the richest farmers in their community.

"What's funny guys" Rosemary asked her younger siblings who had started giggling when she mentioned Mcjunkin's name.

It was Rhoda, her sister, who first replied while still giggling "Freak" at which both Rose and her mum's face both paled. Charlie, her brother then chimed in saying " some kids at school said he's such a freak and a recluse".

It was at this point that her mum snapped " shut your mouths right there, that young man has been through the absolute worst in this life and it's disgusting that people, including my own children will talk about him in such a disgusting way and call him such names. He is someone you should look up to for how far he has come in life and the fact that he rarely comes out in public shouldn't be enough reason for anyone to trash talk him. If I hear such words again from your mouths, you will be grounded for life" she finished with a hard face.

The infamous barn fire that almost took Connor Mcjunkin's life had happened around the same time that Mr Douglas had died and their family had been too wrapped up in their suffocating grief to go check on the poor boy but Mrs Douglas frequently prayed for him when she prayed for her own children. " I haven't seen him since the incident and prior to that, I only saw him from a distance but how is he supposed to come out and socialize when this is how people speak of him" Rosemary said to her siblings" and I know it's not only because you're kids, those kids you heard it from must have adults around them who think the same way"

" Rose, mum we're so sorry. Please we're sorry" Rhoda said looking like she was on the verge of years. " We will never say such things again we promise" Charlie said. " It's okay" said their mum. " I will try Mcjunkin's farm, mum" said Rose " who knows, he might need help around there".